Part One: One Heart
by SakuraInuyasha
Summary: A big battle starts off the story and it draws all her companions to her as she embarks on a life-changing journey of love and hate, excitement and tears.... who is "she?" Read on reader.........
1. A Meeting

Chapter one:

A meeting

It was just before sunset and Sakura Yasami was, strangely, asleep. Her blue eyes were closed, blocking any light. Her Kimono, blue with waves, shone like a jewel in the beautiful orangey-red sunbeam that was pouring through the small window. Life-less as she looked, her heart was still beating. When she awoke, she heard noise. There was a commotion outside the bamboo curtain. Sakura got up and pushed the curtain aside. She was shocked to see what was going on outside. There was a crowd of villagers fighting something, of someone... she heard someone call her name. Katsumi, a village girl, ran up to her. "Lady Sakura, lady Sakura! Thank goodness you're awake! There are some nasty demons attacking the village!" Kayo wailed. "Please help us! You are the only demon with powers strong enough to kill this demon pack!" Katsumi begged.

"I suppose I could give it a shot" Sakura replied confidently. "Oh wow! Were definitely going to win this time!" Katsumi squealed. Sakura grabbed her sharpened sword and ran out of the hut. A man standing near the back, saw her, and exclaimed: "Make way for Lady Sakura, who will slay the demons!" The crowd parted and Sakura stepped forwards.

The battle began. Sakura had her Water powers on full as the young demoness fought of hordes of demons. _"Dead! Heh Heh!" _It was these thoughts that flashed through her head as she sliced the demons to bits. The demons pack was growing smaller by the minute. Sakura finally came to the head demon. She approached him, blood-stained and cut all over with a torn kimono and all; she blasted him with a water ray. Then she unsheathed her sword and cut him across his arm. Of course, the demon fought back, Sakura dodged, and then she was hit by a claw in her lower back. Pain pierced her back. Sakura was tough and embraced the pain, but found it was quite damaging to her quick movement. _"Damn! How in the world am I supposed to win this battle with a back like this? Most of the men are already dead, and it wouldn't be at all considerate to ask the women to come fight!" _Sakura thought as she dodged a strike. It was a near hit, but she was fine. Sakura charged and cut his neck. Sakura noticed something strange in that demon. From inside the cut, something was glowing! _"A shard of the Sacred Shikon Jewel!"_ Sakura knew it! That had to be it! _"if I can just hit there again and cut the shard out! Then he will become weak and I can defeat him!"_ Sakura had formed her plan. The demon was wailing in pain. He toughened up and striked again. He gashed her foot. It was bleeding hard and it stung like a million bee stings. She jumped on one foot, not very high, and swung her sword at the cut she had made before. Sakura felt the sword rip through the meat and hit the shard of the jewel. She closed her eyes as she fell and she landed in a heap of pain. She heard the demon disintegrate and blow off with the wind. Sakura couldn't move. It was too much pain, even for a half-demoness like herself. She fell unconscious and lay there, almost dead, bloody and torn.


	2. A Journey to Begin

Chapter 2:

A journey to begin.

The villagers were shocked. They were debating over what to do with the injured demoness. The village caretaker pushed her way through village men. "Let me see," the caretaker said shakily. Her nerves were still shattered from the noise and battle scenes. "Bring her to a room immediately!" she exclaimed. A man standing at the back looked over his shoulder and saw a glimpse of something. It was the Shikon Jewel shard! He crept over and picked it up. He ran back to the crowd. He pushed his way through the crowd of men. "What about this?" The man shouted as he held the shard up. The arguing began.

"I should get it!"

"No! I found it!"

"Who said?"

"It's mine!"

"Give it here!"

Just then, young Katsumi walked by. She heard the argument and a tear found its way to her eye. _"If Lady Sakura slayed the demon, then it should be Lady Sakura who gets the shard,"_ Katsumi thought to herself. _"I've got to do the right thing!" _Katsumi thought as she bolted towards the crowd of arguing men. She pushed through and snatched the jewel. "Hey! Give that back!" a man demanded. "NO! If Lady Sakura slayed the demon, it should be her that has the jewel shard!" Katsumi yelled. It was silent for a moment. Then there was a burst of noise as everyone yelled at her in protest. Then, she heard gasps. Katsumi was scared, like all 6 year olds would be. Out of the crowd, emerged the leader. Then he spoke: "Men! The young girl is right. Greed takes us all over, but young Kayo had the power to fight that. So it is decided that Lady Sakura will be rewarded with the sacred jewel. And if she doesn't awake, then we shall give the jewel to Katsumi to keep. If anyone protests this, they shall be punished." Everyone was astounded. They were all solemn as they departed. All the women came out and started darting about, continuing their quiet lives. If you were wondering, no, we did not forget about our main character. Sakura was lying in a bed, 75% dead. She imagined she was in a room. She saw blackness. She called out for someone. Only her echo answered her. She saw something coming towards her. It was a deep red. It came closer. She could see it clearly now. There was a carridge. _"A carridge?" _She thought. Then she realized that it was the carridge from the underworld! A few demons hopped out. One pulled out a long silver chain. Sakura tried to move. She couldn't. She was paralyzed. The hell demon wrapped it around her arm. He tugged it. He disappeared into the carridge. He dragged the rest of he there too. Only her arm was in the carridge. The hell demon popped his head out and mumbled something to his friends. They all pulled out chains. Her legs went in, then her torso. Her other arm disappeared and only her neck was sticking out. She felt tugging. Suddenly, she felt cold, and one by one, the chains went loose and dropped they disintegrated and the carridge swept away. She could move again. She felt more cold. She suddenly awoke to more cold water being splashed on her face.

"She's awake" an unfamiliar voice said. Sakura opened her eyes even more and sat up. Staring back at her was a girl, in strange clothes. Accompanied by a fox demon, a monk and another demon. Sakura heard a noise. She swiveled her head to see a demon slayer walk through the doorway. Sakura spoke in a shaky voice, "W-who are y-you and w-what is your b-buisness here?" The gentle voice of the strange girl answered, "No! Don't worry! Please. We are here to help."

Then the voice from the demon spoke, "No we aren't. We came to take your shard of the jewel." The girl spoke again, "InuYasha! If were here, we might as well help!" He argued back. "We don't have this kind of time!" Then the girl spoke a command, "InuYasha, SIT!" The demon fell to the ground, face first, and left a dent in the floor. Sakura was shocked. "I'm sorry. The idiot InuYasha is being stupid again. Suddenly, the monk spoke up. "Err...If I may interrupt, I am Miroku, I am a monk. My friends have all forgotten their manners! This," he beckoned towards the young woman in strange clothes, "This is Kagome. And that woman, is Sango, a demon slayer, this fox is Shippo, and that, on the floor is the half-demon, Inuyasha. We understand that you, Lady Sakura, have a shard of the Shikon jewel." Sakura was shocked that they knew her name, but did she have shard of the jewel? She never remembered getting one. So she spoke, "Hello. I am, infact, Lady Sakura, but I do not have a shard of the Shikon jewel." Then Miroku spoke again. "Kagome?" Kagome replied "Yes, I sense it. Its here." They all started arguing about whom really had it. Meanwhile, Inuyasha recovered and stood up. He saw the girls face in more detail. A strange feeling came over him. There was something different about her. Sakura re-thought this situation and remembered killing a demon with a shard of the jewel. "Wait! I did slay a demon with the jewel shard, but I cannot recall anything of its whereabouts." Miroku smiled and said, "So you do recall a jewel shard?"

"Yes, yes I do." Sakura was straining to remember what happened, but all she could remember was pain and blackness.

Inuyasha was still feeling a difference with the presence of this girl then any others he had ever met. He was just sitting in a corner, lost in his own thoughts._ "How come she has a strange scent? She gives off a strange feeling. Is it just me? Why? What is her name again? At least she can't give me a "sit" command..." _His thoughts were soon interrupted by Kagome. She was calling his name. "INUYASHA!!!!!" She yelled at him. "Whadda ya want?!" He snapped back."Well? Are you going to get Sakura some water or not?" she asked him in an annoyed tone. "Ok, Ok, im going!" He replied in his, what seemed, usual tone. As he walked out of the hut, he thought some more, which was strange for him, but he thought about Sakura, _"So her name is Sakura? It's a nice name, I guess." _He scooped some water in a bucket and brought it back. "Here" He thrust the bucket towards Kagome. Kagome whispered to Sakura, "Please excuse his rudeness, he's always like this." Sakura took some water and sipped it as Inuyasha started lecturing Kagome that he could hear her and that he was a half-demon with powerful ears and strong nose. _"So this Inuyasha is a half-demon. Just like me. A dog demon, I suppose, considering his ears.(Which were dog ears.) Hmmmmm.......I think I wanna touch them....." _She had zoned out of the lecture, in which, somehow Sango and Miroku had joined into. Suddenly real-life sprang back to her and she snapped to alert for a minute. "Oh, Sakura," Kagome stopped the argument, "You should rest." Sakura realized that someone was speaking to her and she replied, "Oh...oh yes I will thank you." And she did. She rested for a day or two while Kagome and the others cared for her, except InuYasha, who had a horrible attitude about the fact that they were stuck in a little village when the could be destroying Naraku, The evil demon who is very powerful.

Inuyasha carried the bucket of water he had collected and plopped it down on the ground near Kagome. "Why do I have to do all the hard work?" Inuyasha asked in an annoyed tone. "Because none of us can and Sakura is ill and can not do work!" Replied Kagome in an educated sort of voice. Just then, Shippo poked his head out of the doorway to the hut and said "Where is Sakura anyway?" Inuyasha and Kagome looked up immediately. "Oh my god! She disappeared!" Kagome exclaimed as she peered around the room. Just then Sakura walked up behind them and said in a cheerey voice "Hey guys! What are you looking at?" Everyone turned around in shock. There, holding a basket, with dripping legs and slightly rolled kimono, was Sakura. "I stand corrected" Kagome muttered. InuYasha smirked. Miroku asked: "Where did you go?" Sakura replied in her soft, happy voice, "I was fishing for something to eat in the river!" Everyone looked in shock at her recovery. Inuyasha muttered to Kagome; "Can't work can she?" Kagome told him to "sit" and he was forced to the ground. Sakura just stood there, smiling. Inuyasha got up and walked up to Kagome. He started yelling at her and so Sakura picked up some firewood and built a fire. By the time Inuyasha and Kagome finished yelling and "sitting" Sakura, Sango, Shippo, and Miroku were all enjoying some fresh fish. Inuyasha stared in awe. He didn't even notice that Kagome had gone to join them already. He turned to looked back at her and saw she was already eating and he looked shocked, then he muttered "Hmm?" and yelled, "Hey wait up!" as he ran towards them. He joined them near the fire and he was kindly given a fish, nicely roasted, on a stick by Sakura. He snatched it from her without a word. "Inuyasha, you could be polite." Kagome told him. "Yea yea thanks." He said, clearly, annoyed, as he gulped down the fish. _"No manners it seems." _Sakura thought. She sat quietly in the corner nibbling on the fish as she pondered the thought of where she would go next.


	3. Down the Path of Destiny

Chapter 3:

Down the path of destiny.

A few days had passed, or so it seemed. Inuyasha was growing more and more impatient as each day passed. He was also becoming more and more shy around Sakura as the dreary, quiet, days crawled past.

_"Why am I so….so…….quiet all of a sudden? It was ever since we stopped here………………it….it must be that demoness….." _ Inuyasha was questioning himself when his thought was interrupted, "Inuyasha!" Kagome walked up to him. No one else was around. "Why are you all of a sudden so quiet? Your usually much more talkative." It was the question he was just asking himself. He looked up at her, "I dunno." He replied in a solemn voice. All of a sudden, he felt a deep burning rage. A rage at…..at everyone. He didn't want them here! He wanted all of them gone! He didn't like them! He was angry at them! All the anger was building up. He abandoned Kagome as he jumped up to the nearest tree. Kagome took a hint and left. He thought deeply about his anger. _"Why am I angry? I feel it inside, but outside I can't see it at all…Damn! What is this?…Is it the fact that I can't express emotion too deeply? Is it that thing are awkward between me and Kagome? What is this anger burning inside? How come I can feel emotion in myself but not outside? Damn!" _

Miroku walked up to Sakura. "Sakura where do plan to be going after this? We leave tomorrow you know." Sakura gave it some thought and replied, "Well, I plan to be journeying the countryside." Miroku was taken aback. "Really? Why are you journeying across the countryside?" He asked her. Sakura thought back to before the battle. "Well…….About 14 weeks ago, my father left on a journey and said he would be back 8 days ago and he never did, and naturally, I got worried and I am going to find him and bring him back." Miroku looked at her and said; "Well you see, we too, journey the countryside looking for Jewel shards...If you don't mind me asking, who was your father?" Sakura tripped over the first few words as a tear rolled down her pale cheek, then she got lost in her story of her father with Miroku just listening. She ended her story with an overflow of tears. Miroku put on hand on her shoulder and said "Not to worry Sakura. Why don't you come with us and we will help you find your father." She felt his hand slipping lower and lower until it reached her butt. He started rubbing, and as if by instinct, her hand pulsed and she raised it and swung it towards his face…….SMACK! There was a loud groan coming from Miroku. Sakura rose. Her tears had all dried by that point. Sango looked away, as if in shame. Inuyasha looked back and rolled his eyes. Kagome sighed heavily and Shippo muttered to himself "When will he learn?"

The day crept on as the plans were made that Sakura would travel with them. When the embarking time came, Sakura looked around at the village where she was raised. Then she turned. She looked down the dirt path. She stepped forwards, and then she walked at a slow pace, with the others behind her. Little did she know, she was walking down the path of destiny.


End file.
